The present invention relates to elastic roll members, and more particularly to elastic roll members used suitably in OA printers, facsimile machines as well as in the development unit and the paper feed unit of an electronic copying machine for measuring and supplying the toner.
In the prior art, so-called sponge rollers are widely used as an elastic roll member for supplying or measuring the toner in an electronic copying machine, the roll member comprising a metal shaft member which is circular in cross section and a sponge member which is concentrically attached to the metal shaft on its outer periphery.
In the manufacture of such sponge rolls, a hot melt film adhesive is wound about a heated metal shaft and cooled to harden. The shaft member is then inserted and positioned in a through-hole of a sponge member having a rectangular cross section, and then heated to melt the once hardened adhesive to cause the sponge member and the shaft member to become integrally bonded. The sponge member is subsequently shaped into a cylinder of a desired diameter.
It has been pointed out, however, that despite substantial absence of load (torque) during their use for supplying toner, etc., manufacture of the sponge rolls involves excessively complicated and costly steps of bonding the members.